


Mistletoe, Baby

by candysams



Series: 12 Days of Banana Fish-mas [3]
Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: 12 Days of Banana Fish-Mas, Christmas, College AU, Kinda, M/M, One-Shot, christmas party time!, day 7: mistletoe, just our boys having fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 16:23:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16895979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candysams/pseuds/candysams
Summary: Eiji just wanted to drink eggnog and dance to Christmas music, but he didn't mind if a pretty boy named Ash threw a curveball in his plans.Written for Day 7: Mistletoe of 12 Days of Banana Fish-mas, hosted by @/softaslans on twitter!





	Mistletoe, Baby

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this instead of studying for finals... oops...  
> Enjoy some good ol' holiday cheer, eggnog, and mistletoe ;)

Eiji wasn’t usually one for parties, but he had met a very tall Chinese man in the library who had invited him to a Christmas party with the words “ _you’re just his type_ ” and really, how could he refuse? While Eiji didn’t know whose type he was, Sing had punched the Chinese man in the arm and introduced him as his cousin, Shorter, who had an affinity for flustering cute strangers and inviting them to parties.

With the promise that Sing was going, Eiji found himself in the middle of an off-campus apartment kitchen, ladling a thin eggnog concoction into a red solo cup. He passed the cup to Sing before preparing another for himself and taking a sip.

“This taste more like alcohol than eggnog.” He remarked to Sing, who nodded his agreement with a grimace.

“Shorter usually just pours some eggnog in a punch bowl and goes ham with the vodka.” Sing replied. Despite being two years younger, he took less time acclimating to the strong burning sensation than Eiji did, and Eiji was old enough to legally drink in America.

Eiji took small sips of his drink as he followed Sing around the small apartment, meeting new people and trying to remember the lyrics to the popular Christmas music playing that he hadn’t heard since last year. Shorter, who seemed very popular on the dance floor in his festive—and suggestive— _Ho, Ho, Ho_  tank top, winked at Eiji when they met eyes and quickly moved towards them. Sing refused to dance with Shorter, claiming he had two left feet and was a little embarrassing, but Eiji was quickly swept away by the larger man and spent the next two minutes slow dancing with Shorter to “Baby it’s Cold Outside.”

Sufficiently flushed from the alcohol, Shorter’s close proximity, a surprising amount of grinding on the dance floor, and the warmth of his red sweater, Eiji excused himself to get another drink. He faintly heard Sing lecturing Shorter about being “too handsy” and “inappropriate” as he walked away, but Eiji hadn’t minded. Shorter was handsome, and Eiji found the general openness Americans had to be refreshing.

This time when Eiji walked into the kitchen, there was someone fiddling with the punch bowl of spiked eggnog Shorter had created. A blond man who looked about the same age as Eiji, maybe a year older, was pouring more eggnog in and ladling small samples into his cup to test the mixture. He was handsome, with the lightest hair color Eiji had ever seen and a bright green sweater with the word “Naughty” printed across the front. Eiji waited patiently for him to finish, his eyes drawn to the Santa hat sticking out of the man’s back pocket as he bent over to return the alcohol to its safe spot under the counter.

Then he turned around and saw Eiji standing directly behind him, his cheeks flushing slightly as if he were embarrassed at being caught. “Sorry, Shorter offered to mix the eggnog this year and I forgot how awful his drink-making abilities were.” He stepped aside, taking his mostly-empty cup with him.

"More alcohol than eggnog, I think.” Eiji chuckled, pouring some of the fresh mixture into his cup. He took a sip and was pleased with the taste, his tipsy taste buds ignoring the bitterness of the appropriate proportion of alcohol to focus on the sweetness of the eggnog. “Much better.”

The blond grinned, although he didn’t fill up the rest of his cup. “I’m Shorter’s roommate, by the way. Ash.”

“I’m Eiji, Sing’s friend.” Eiji said. He held his hand out and waited for Ash to take it, surprised by the cool feeling of his skin against Eiji’s warm and probably-sweaty palm.

“Ah, you’re the guy Shorter invited before he even introduced himself.” Ash recalled.

“Yeah, it was a little weird.” Eiji shrugged. “’Stranger danger’, as they say.”

Ash laughed at that, the happy sound sending butterflies to Eiji’s stomach. Even though Ash’s ripped skinny jeans told Eiji he would probably dislike the adjective, Eiji thought his laugh was  _cute_. “Yeah, Shorter’s really a big teddy bear but he sure as hell don’t look like it.” They slowly migrated towards the sink as more people came into the kitchen searching for refills, moving out of the way of the growing eggnog line.

It was easy to get absorbed in conversation with Ash, listening to him talk about Shorter and his humanitarian classes while Eiji traded funny stories from the photography clients he had over the past couple years. Eiji’s cup was empty again by the time he heard Sing calling for him from across the room, pulling his focus away from his companion. He hadn’t realized he had been so distracted by Ash and his pretty green eyes for so long that both Sing and Shorter had gone looking for him.

“There you are! Eiji, we’ve been looking everywhere!” Sing exclaimed. Behind him, Shorter was giving them both a shit-eating grin, glancing between them and the ceiling.

“What-?” Eiji followed Shorter’s gaze, only to find a piece of mistletoe dangling two feet above his head. “Oh.”

Ash looked up too, spotting it at the same time. Then he looked at Eiji, cheeks red despite barely drinking.

“You gotta kiss!” Shorter helpfully yelled, drawing the attention of everyone in the kitchen. “That’s mistletoe, baby!”

Ash seemed just as flustered as Eiji was, so Eiji took matters into his own hands. He gripped the front of Ash’s sweatshirt and pulled him close, locking their lips together. Shorter whistled loudly, but Eiji could barely hear him past the beating of his own heart. All he paid attention to was the soft feel of Ash’s lips on his, the warm fabric stretching under his fingers as he pulled Ash closer, Ash’s cool fingertips finding a thin sliver of exposed skin at the small of Eiji’s back. When they broke apart, all of the attention from the room was gone except for Shorter, who was still cheering, and Sing, who was facepalming next to his cousin.

“‘That’s mistletoe, baby.’” Eiji cheekily echoed Shorter, still in Ash’s space. Ash smelled like cinnamon and vodka and Eiji didn’t think he ever wanted to leave.

Ash’s pupils were blown wide as he gazed down at Eiji, panting slightly. “Can I get your number?”

“Oh?” Eiji raised an eyebrow teasingly, flattening his palm against Ash’s chest and smoothing out the crinkled fabric. “But what about ‘stranger danger’?”

“We’re not strangers anymore, are we?”

**Author's Note:**

> Back at it again with asheiji! Episode 22 killed me okay :,(  
> Even shy college kids like to party...how could Eiji refuse?
> 
> Don't forget to check out @/softaslans and the 12 Days of Banana Fish-mas prompts [here!](https://twitter.com/softaslans/status/1066057975431860226)
> 
> Come yell at me on [tumblr](https://candysams.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/candysamstwit)! Don't be shy!


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